Exports from Dubai to Africa Grow
Dubai has emerged as one of the leading supplier of goods and all kinds of consumer products to Africa. Shipping lines plying the Dubai-Africa route are experiencing a welcome rise in business with the coming of African bulk buyers during the last decade. Among the major destinations of UAE exports are Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Gabon, Ghana and the Ivory Coast in West Africa, and Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya in East Africa. On an average, freight rates to Africa cost around $2,200 to $2,600 for a 20-foot container, which has a capacity of 21 tonnes. For a 40-foot container with a capacity of 26.5 tonnes, current rates are between $4,900 and $5,600.
Certain trade sectors in Dubai have reported substantial increase in demand from African countries in recent years. A growing number of African buyers are travelling to Dubai to purchase a wide variety of goods and to make direct contacts with suppliers and manufacturers in the UAE.
Dubai's Exports to Africa
Dubai’s trade with Africa, estimated at $45 billion, has grown beyond its traditional trade partners in Africa like Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda to new and emerging markets like Nigeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Mozambique, Tanzania, Eritrea and Ghana. According to recent study conducted by Africa Business Pages, exports from Dubai to Africa constitute 10 per cent of the emirates total trade. In recent years, Africa has emerged as the largest export market for Dubai wholesalers of consumer electronics and IT equipment.
Dubai’s trading ties with Africa go back decades and the emirate has been trading with many African countries much before the discovery of oil and the formation of the UAE Federation. Traditional trade partners in those historic days used dhows trade with the ports of Zanzibar, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania was once dominated by Arab traders. Somali cattle have been imported in the Gulf countries since historical times. So trade between Africa and Dubai has a long and illustrious history.
Emirates Opens New Trade Corridors in Africa
Emirates airline has also played an instrumental role in the improving bi-lateral trade between Africa and Dubai. By operating direct flights from Dubai into many African countries, Emirates airline has helped in building new trade routes in the African markets as well as contributing to the rise in African passenger traffic to Dubai.
Africa-Dubai Trade Grows
New and liberal economic policies adopted by many African countries have also attracted foreign investments in industrial and manufacturing projects - mainly in the several Export Processing Zones (EPZs) that have come up in countries like Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in recent years. This has resulted in greater demand for capital goods, machinery and raw material – a demand that is being met by many Dubai-based enterprises. The growing demand for goods in Africa is clearly reflected in statistics.
The improving economic and political situation in many East African countries has resulted in greater buying power for the average person in Africa and has in turn boosted demand for consumer goods.
The surge in the number of African visitors is a new phenomenon, although Dubai has traditional links with East Africa. According to data available, from a mere 6,954 in 1984, the number of visitors from African countries shot up to over 100,000 now. Most of them came from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa.
